A Matter of Survival
by kalinda001
Summary: Chapter 2 added: March 21, 2008. A B7 AU set after Terminal. Avon and a little matter of survival. Deals with the Avon-Cally relationship.
1. Chapter 1

"Vila, get Tarrant out of here!" said Avon as he almost shoved the unconscious Tarrant at him.

"I'd rather get Cally out," grumbled Vila as he shouldered the injured Tarrant and half-dragged him towards the entry hatch.

Avon had already continued down the debris littered corridor to search for Cally.

The whole underground Terminal complex was set to explode. Some of the charges had already gone off. Avon didn't know how long they had left before the rest of the complex would follow; but he was certain it wasn't long. Servalan wouldn't have given them that much of a chance. After the ship she so "generously" left them had exploded, Avon was certain that the living quarters were also rigged to explode and had rushed back with Dayna.

_We've lost the Liberator, _thought Avon as tried to avoid a piece of falling rubble. _No. I've lost the Liberator. I am not losing Cally as well_.

Another explosion went off nearby causing Avon to lose his balance and crash to the ground.

_Wonderful. _Avon picked himself up and continued searching. He regretted ever coming to Terminal. It was a mistake from beginning to end. _No. A trap from beginning to end. A trap engineered by Servalan. Even ORAC was fooled._

He doubted if the difficult computer would ever admit to the error. It would probably talk about percentages of success and the limitations of voice print analysis.

Avon had to admit that it had been a very well planned and executed trap. Even though he hated Servalan, he had to admire her attention to detail and her brilliant creativity. In a way, the lengths she had gone to had been very flattering.

_Clever of you to know that it would take more than just Blake to bring me here. You must have known that I was tired of following all your false rumours about Blake._

"Cally!"

_Here. _Cally's voiced sounded in his mind.

"Cally you have to use your voice for me to locate you," said Avon. Avon was relieved that she was still alive. Of everyone, he would have hated to lose Cally. For some reason they had always had a connection; even from the beginning.

Blake in his delusional state had not been far from the truth when he thought there was something between them.

_Not far from the truth and very far, _thought Avon wryly. Nothing had ever become of it. He hadn't let it. He had been too obsessed with the memory of Anna. Then when he found out that the lover he had trusted implicitly had been nothing but illusion, he had still not pursued it. He wasn't sure why.

"Here," said Cally weakly. Avon rushed forward. She was pinned under a supporting beam which had fallen across her legs.

"Avon." Her face was pale and streaked with dust.

"Yes, Cally. I'm here. We have to get you out before the complex explodes," Avon kept his face carefully neutral as he examined her. She looked terrible. Her legs looked crushed and there was a large bleeding gash on her forehead.

_Well, I will have to deal with that when I get the beam off._

Avon looked around and found a long metal support rod. He used another large piece of debris as a fulcrum and positioned the rod.

"Cally. This is going to hurt. Do you understand?"

_Yes, Avon._

Using his full weight to maximum effect, Avon applied pressure on the rod and lifted the beam off Cally's legs. Cally screamed in pain and passed out.

_Perhaps, it's for the best_, thought Avon. _The most painful part is still to come. There is no time to apply a splint for support. We have to get out before we both die._

Avon stopped. He saw something very familiar. Lifting the beam off had not only freed Cally, it had also freed ORAC.

_She must have been carrying ORAC when the beam fell._

The ill-tempered computer was covered in debris but looked intact.

Logic told him it should be an easy choice. _We need ORAC to survive,_ thought Avon. _It is the logical choice._

He looked over at the bleeding and unconscious Cally. It didn't take long for him to make a decision. He bent down and lifted her up in his arms. _Logic doesn't always know what I need to survive._

As he carried Cally towards the hatch, he tried to find a better application of logic to his own reasoning. O_RAC can be put together again. Cally cannot. _The reason sounded inadequate even to himself.

As Avon dragged Cally out of the entry way, Vila rushed over.

"You did it! You saved her!" said Vila as he helped.

"Did you ever doubt it?" asked Avon. "Be careful of her legs," he told Vila as they lay Cally on the ground a distance away from the hatch.

At that moment there were a series of loud explosions. Avon shielded Cally from the falling debris. Vila did the same with the still unconscious Tarrant.

The destruction of the underground complex was now complete.

* * *

Later that night, Tarrant, Vila and Dayna were gathered around a small fire in a crudely setup camp. Avon was nearby tending to Cally. 

"You rescued me?" Tarrant asked Vila.

"Don't be so surprised," said Vila.

"And Avon rescued Cally?" asked Tarrant.

"Yes, he went in after her, after you got knocked out trying to find her," said Dayna.

"How about ORAC? Cally went back to get ORAC."

Avon came over to the fire and heard the last question.

"ORAC was destroyed," Avon told him.

"Are you sure?" asked Tarrant.

Avon paused. "Yes, I'm sure."

"He went back in after it," said Dayna.

"Couldn't you repair it? Salvage some parts?" asked Tarrant.

"No. It was destroyed beyond my ability to repair it," said Avon.

"I never thought you would ever admit to that. So when you were faced with saving ORAC or Cally, you chose Cally?"

Avon stared at Tarrant for a moment before answering, "There was a good chance that ORAC could have been repaired even after the explosion."

"Couldn't have been that good a chance. We've lost both ORAC and the _Liberator_ now."

"You're a fool, Tarrant," said Avon. Without another word, he turned his back to them and went back to tend to Cally.

"What did I say?" said Tarrant. "It's the truth."

"You really are a fool, Tarrant" said Dayna as she followed Avon.

"Don't look at me, I've never been fond of you either. It was Avon who told me to save you," said Vila as he went to join Avon, Dayna and Cally.

Tarrant was left alone by the fire, wondering what just happened.


	2. Chapter 2

Dayna came back carrying a bundle of branches and threw them down angrily by the fire. Tarrant followed behind with a load of logs.

"I would never have put you in danger," he said to Dayna as he stacked his logs in a pile.

"Somehow I don't believe you," said Dayna.

"You didn't get hurt. I don't understand what your problem is," said Tarrant.

"Not _this_ time," accused Dayna.

"Would you mind taking your petty disagreements elsewhere?" asked Avon as he glared at them with a look which conveyed, the farther the better. He was tending to Cally, who lay next to the fire; he rarely left her side.

Tarrant opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it. Everyone seemed to be angry at him these days. He didn't understand why. It wasn't him who had gotten them all into this situation. Tarrant stalked off to find Vila. Bullying Vila always made him feel better.

"Sorry, Avon," said Dayna. "It's all Tarrant's fault. He…"

"I'm not interested," said Avon in dismissal. He blocked her presence out of his mind and concentrated on Cally. As long as the others didn't bother Cally, he didn't care what they did.

Avon knew that it was his fault that Cally had been injured. If he hadn't fallen for Servalan's tricks, they would never have been in this position. He hadn't even realized that Servalan had been conditioning him with her tantalizing messages. Just the prospect that Blake was still alive and was in trouble had been enough for him to throw all caution to the winds and race after him. Blake had always needed Avon to save him from himself.

Servalan had been very cunning. ORAC's verification that it was Blake's voice and the messages of a treasure which would make them both rich and invincible made it impossible to ignore. Blake had to be in trouble. The sanctimonious Blake would never have used the prospect of riches to lure him. And the ridiculous idea of something which would make someone invincible had been laughable. Not even the _Liberator_ had been able to do that for them. 

Servalan might as well have said, "I have Blake in my power."

Avon could not ignore ORAC's verification that it was Blake's voice though. On the strength of that, he had to risk it. He was under no illusions as to what his enemy wanted. The _Liberator_ and ORAC. They had always been her goal. He had walked knowingly into a trap, without ever having any intention of giving either one to her. He had to. As long as there was a chance that Blake was still alive and could be rescued; he could never leave him in Servalan's hands. Blake would have done the same for him.

_What was I thinking?__ The moment I sent the crew away. I was signing my own death warrant. And Blake's. _He reminded himself. _The fake Blake. The real Blake is dead._

There were so many things he had done which did not make any sense to him now. _I was right. Sentiment breeds weakness. Let it get hold of you and it will destroy you. It destroys all objectivity and reason._

Avon continued looking at Cally._ Then what am I doing now?_

In the end, no one had either ORAC or the _Liberator_. Servalan had lost and they had won at a terrible cost. _But at least I still have you_, thought Avon as he felt Cally's forehead. She still had a fever; this was worrying. There was no medication to treat her with. All of the supplies they had were buried underneath the rubble of the complex which had been destroyed.

"How is she, Avon?"

Avon was shaken out of his reverie by Dayna's question. He stared at her for a moment as if just noticing that she was there.

"She still has a fever," replied Avon.

"That's not good." As she spoke with him, Dayna reflected on how worn-down he looked. She couldn't remember if she had noticed him sleeping since he found Cally. Dayna hadn't thought it possible that a cold, selfish man like Avon could care about anyone else this much, except himself.

"No. It's not," he agreed.

"Is there anything I can do?" asked Dayna with a concerned look on her face.

Avon had never appreciated the human conventions of sentiment but he found that he welcomed the others' expressions of concern for Cally. Of all of them, she deserved it.

"Can you get some water?" asked Avon. He preferred staying by Cally's side as much as possible, in case she needed him.

"Of course," said Dayna. She went to search for one of the containers they had been using for water.

Avon lifted the blanket from Cally's legs in order to inspect her injuries. Both had been broken by a falling support beam. He felt the breaks gently.

He sighed with relief. At least the breaks seemed to be healing.

_Avon. _Cally's voice spoke directly into his mind.

Avon quickly covered her legs again and answered, "Yes, Cally. How are you feeling?"

_I'm thirsty. _

"Dayna is getting water."

_Have you gotten any rest? _Cally was looking at him with concern. His face was haggard and there were dark circles under his eyes. It seemed as if he had aged several years in just a couple of days.

"I will get some rest later," he told her.

_You can't do this to yourself, Avon. _

"I don't know what you mean."

_You feel guilty so you will not let yourself get any rest. You're trying to punish yourself like you did with Anna, when you allowed yourself to be tortured. _

"A man like me doesn't feel guilt. Didn't anyone tell you? I only think in terms of rationality and utility."

_Is it rational to exhaust yourself by staying with me, when one of the others could do just as well? You once said that you never understood why it was necessary to be irrational in order to show that you care. What you are doing now is very irrational. _

"Do you want me to stop?" asked Avon.

_I want you to rest, Avon. _

"I never meant for any of this to happen," said Avon. There was tightness in his throat. She was right; she always was with him. The guilt had been eating away at him; it would not allow him to rest. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the _Liberator_ exploding; could remember coming upon Cally's broken body buried underneath the rubble. The first one he had been able to regard as a cruel twist of irony. The second had filled him with fear and horror. Until then, he had not known which one he loved. 


End file.
